Say Something Real
A Bribe for Silence in the Face of Reckless Cuts
By Michelle Bryant
Michelle Bryant
The Trump administration, in collaboration with Elon Musk’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has proposed a plan that sounds too good to be true: a 20% giveback of savings from federal agency cuts, distributed directly to the American people in the form of a “Doge Dividend.”
On the surface, it appears to be a generous gesture, a way to return taxpayer dollars to the people. But dig deeper, and it becomes clear that this is nothing more than a thinly veiled bribe—a payoff to silence the public while the administration recklessly slashes the federal workforce and prioritizes the wealthy over working-class Americans.
The so-called “Doge Dividend” is blood money. It’s a distraction from the tens of thousands of federal employees who have been terminated without due process, fairness, or consideration. These workers, many of whom have dedicated decades to public service, are being cast aside in the name of “efficiency.” But what kind of efficiency is this? The cuts are haphazard, driven by ideology and/or loyalty to Trump, rather than strategic analysis. There’s no transparency in how these savings are calculated, no clear understanding of where these cuts should have been made, and no accountability for the human cost of these decisions.
The administration claims that these cuts will reduce the national debt, which now stands at a staggering $36 trillion. But let’s be clear: this isn’t about fiscal responsibility. This is about propping up House Republicans’ plan to extend expiring 2017 tax provisions, which provided huge tax cuts to the top ten percent of Americans. With a price tag of roughly $1.9 million dollars, Republicans need a way to pay for this huge payday for the nation’s richest people. Their plan, a reverse robin-hood, would take from the poor and give to the rich. The conundrum: how do they do it and keep the masses, and more importantly, their base, from raising hell or jumping ship? Hush money always works!
The Doge Dividend, which proposes to give everyday Americans a $5,000 check, is a bait and switch tactic. This is a cynical ploy to buy public approval and silence. While the administration continues to dismantle the federal government and enrich the elite, they are destabilizing public services, increasing unemployment, steering the economy off course, and creating a situation that will leave many Americans less safe.
DOGE has proven itself to be a rag-tag group of individuals, ill-equipped for the task that’s been assigned. They’ve created more chaos than efficiency. Much of the touted savings are unreliable and largely unverified. Therefore, I caution residents about getting too excited about the proposed 20% giveback. All money, ain’t good money. We cannot allow ourselves to be bought off with a few thousand dollars while the foundations of our government and economy are eroded. What may seem like a “come-up” is most likely a “set-up.”